Constructing a quality water filter that can last you for years is simpler and cheaper than you think. Don’t spend hundreds on a premade filter system; follow this guide to make one yourself.

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Steps

Method 1 of 2: Building a Gravity Filter

1

Acquire your parts. You will need two 5 gallon (18.9 L) food-grade plastic buckets with lids, and a food grade spigot. You will also need a pair of water filtration elements. These will be the most expensive part of the project.

Make sure that your filter elements are NSF certified.

You will need a drill with 1/2” and 3/4” drill bits.

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2

Drill your holes. You will be stacking the buckets on top of each other to let gravity pull the water through the filters. Drill two 1/2” holes in the bottom of the upper bucket. These holes should make a line across the diameter of the bucket.

Drill two matching holes into the lid of the bucket that will be underneath. The holes should line up when the buckets are stacked.

3

Drill a 3/4" hole for the spigot into the bottom bucket. Install the spigot, making sure that it is properly sealed so that no water can escape.

4

Install the filter elements. These are installed into the upper bucket. The nozzle for the filter element secures through the hole drilled into the bottom of the upper bucket. Make sure both filters are securely installed. The nozzles should be protruding from the bottom of the bucket.

5

Stack the buckets. The newly-installed filter element nozzles should fit directly into the holes drilled into the lid of the bottom bucket.

Consider sealing the space between the two buckets if you don’t plan on moving your filtration system often. This will help keep debris from getting in between the buckets and contaminating the clean water supply in the lower container.

6

Start purifying. Fill the top bucket with water. It can take a long time for water to start filtering through new filter elements. The process will speed up as they get used more.

Continue adding water to the top bucket to increase the speed of the filtration process. More pressure on the filters makes them work faster.

7

Clean your filter. As solids build up on the outside of the filters, the filtration process will slow. Clean your filters with a plastic scouring pad to keep them flowing. If the water you want to filter is cloudy, pre-filter it with folded cloth to remove excess debris.

Method 2 of 2: Purifying Without a Filter

1

Boil your water. Boiling is widely viewed as the safest way to purify water. Pre-filter cloudy water with a coffee filter or folded cloth.

Boil the water for one full minute, then let cool and drink. If you are above 2,000 feet (609.6 m) altitude, boil for three minutes.

Add a small amount of salt to improve the taste of the water as it’s boiling.

Make a cotton and charcoal filter. Crushed charcoal in a cotton trap will work well in removing the impurities and some of the bad taste from the boiled water when you filter through it. Charcoal will also help in capturing some of the toxins that other methods will not catch.

2

Add chlorine bleach. Using bleach should not be attempted unless boiling water is not possible. Make sure that it is unscented and soap-free bleach. Household bleach should contain between 5-6% bleach.[1]

For two liters of water, you will need to add 5 drops of bleach. Mix vigorously and let stand for at least 30 minutes. If the water is particularly cloudy, double the bleach and let stand for at least 60 minutes.

3

Use SODIS to disinfect. SODIS stands for solar water disinfection. Fill transparent PET bottles half full with water. Shake them repeatedly to mix oxygen into the water, then fill the bottles to the top and cap them. Place the bottles in a location that will receive at least 6 hours of direct sunlight.

This method works best if the bottles are angled towards the sun and are resting on a conducive material such as a corrugated tin roof.

Glass bottles are ineffective for this method, as they block crucial UV rays.

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